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Perfect Competition • The simplest market structure is known as perfect competition. • A perfectly competitive market is one with a large number of firms all producing essentially the same product • Each firm produces so little of the product compared to total supply, no single producer can influence price; they are known as “price takers.”

Conditions for Perfect Competition • There are surprisingly only a few good examples of perfect competition because of the conditions needed for a perfectly competitive market. • 1. Many Buyers and Sellers - There are many participants on both the buying and selling sides. • 2. Identical Products - There are no differences between the products sold by different suppliers. Typically, commodities! • 3. Informed Buyers and Sellers - The market provides the buyer with full information about the product and its price. • 4. Free Market Entry and Exit - Firms can enter the market when they can make money and leave it when they can't. Low barrier to entry!

Examples of Perfect Competition • It is difficult to meet all 4 criteria for perfect competition. • Examples tend to be commodities – a product that is the same no matter who produces it • Roofing nails, paper clips • Ag products: milk, corn • Notebook or copy paper

Why isn’t there more perfect competition? • barriers to entry are the most common reason we don’t see more examples of perfect competition • A barrier to entry is any factor that creates an obstacle for a new firm to enter a market • Barriers to entry result in imperfect competition

Examples of Barriers • Start-up Costs • The expenses that a new business must pay before the first product reaches the customer are called start-up costs. • Have to buy land, labor, capital • Technology • Some markets require a high degree of technological know-how. As a result, new entrepreneurs cannot easily enter these markets. • Human and physical capital

Monopoly Applied • The concept of a monopoly helps explain why some prescription drug prices are so high, why the DMV is so bad with customer service, and why there is only one passenger railroad company left in the US.

Monopoly Defined • A monopoly is a market dominated by a single seller. • Monopolies form when impenetrable barriers prevent firms from entering a market that has a single supplier. • Monopolies can take advantage of their monopoly power and charge high prices; they are known as “price makers.”

Causes of a Monopoly • 1. Economies of Scale • If a firm's start-up costs are high, and its average costs fall for each additional unit it produces, then it enjoys what economists call economies of scale. An industry that enjoys economies of scale can easily become a natural monopoly. Examples include cable TV, utilities • 2. Natural Monopolies • A natural monopoly is a market that runs most efficiently when one large firm provides all of the output. • 3. Technology and Change • Sometimes the development of a new technology can destroy a natural monopoly.

Natural Monopolies • When a market runs most efficiently with only one large firm providing the output, it is known as a “natural monopoly” • Publicwater is a good example • If different companies had to set up separate reservoirs, separate pipes, and separate cleaning/distribution systems • Often in the case of a natural monopoly the government provides the service (which comes with some inefficiency) • MCWA, sewers, airports (ROC) • Or govt. will regulate certain industries: RG&E, TWC.

Technology and Change • Technology can disrupt a monopoly and move the market back into competition • Prior to the 1990s land-line phones were close to a monopoly • Cell-phones disrupted the monopoly and now compete with land-line phone companies

Other Government Created Monopolies • A government monopoly is a monopoly created by the government. • Technological Monopolies • Franchises and Licenses • Industrial Organizations

Government Monopoly • Technological Monopolies - The government grants patents, licenses that give the inventor of a new product the exclusive right to sell it for a certain period of time. • Pharmaceuticals • Patents for most goods • Why?

Government Monopoly (cont’d) • Franchises and Licenses- A franchise is a contract that gives a single firm the right to sell its goods within an exclusive market. A license is a government-issued right to operate a business. • Food vendors at National Parks • School sodamachines (in some schools) • Radio and TV stations • Why?

Government Monopoly (cont’d) • Technological Monopolies/ Industrial Organizations • In rare cases, such as sports leagues, the government allows companies in an industry to restrict the number of firms in the market. • Most sports leagues • Why? • Pros/Cons?

Monopolistic competition • In monopolistic competition, many companies compete in an open market to sell products which are similar, but not identical. • Each firm technically holds a monopoly over its specific product/brand • Goods sold under monopolistic competition are similar enough that they can be substituted, but they are not identical

4 Conditions of Monopolistic Competition • 1.Many Firms • As a rule, monopolistically competitive markets are not marked by economies of scale or high start-up costs, allowing more firms. • 2. Few Artificial Barriers to Entry • Firms in a monopolistically competitive market do not face high barriers to entry. • 3. Slight Control over Price • Firms in a monopolistically competitive market have some freedom to raise prices because each firm's goods are a little different from everyone else's. • 4. Differentiated Products • Firms have some control over their selling price because they can differentiate, or distinguish, their goods from other products in the market.

Other ways to compete • Nonprice competition is a way to attract customers through style, service, or location, but not a lower price. • 1. Characteristics of Goods • The simplest way for a firm to distinguish its products is to offer a new size, color, shape, texture, or taste. • 2. Location of Sale • A convenience store in the middle of the desert differentiates its product simply by selling it hundreds of miles away from the nearest competitor.

Nonprice Competition (cont’d) • 3. Service Level • Some sellers can charge higher prices because they offer customers a higher level of service. • 4. Advertising Image • Firms also use advertising to create apparent differences between their own offerings and other products in the marketplace.

Prices, Profits, Output • Prices • Prices will be higher than they would be in perfect competition, because firms have a small amount of power to raise prices. • Profits • While monopolistically competitive firms can earn profits in the short run, they have to work hard to keep their product distinct enough to stay ahead of their rivals. • Costs and Variety • Monopolistically competitive firms cannot produce at the lowest average price due to the number of firms in the market. They do, however, offer a wide array of goods and services to consumers.

What to watch out for—illegal practices: • Collusion • an agreement among members of an oligopoly to set prices and production levels. • Price- fixing • an agreement among firms to sell at the same or similar prices. • Cartel • an association by producers established to coordinate prices and production. (OPEC is a legal cartel.)

Review 1. The differences between perfect competition and monopolistic competition arise because (a) in perfect competition the prices are set by the government. (b) in perfect competition the buyer is free to buy from any seller he or she chooses. (c) in monopolistic competition there are fewer sellers and more buyers. (d) in monopolistic competition competitive firms sell goods that are similar enough to be substituted for one another. 2. An oligopoly is (a) an agreement among firms to charge one price for the same good. (b) a formal organization of producers that agree to coordinate price and output. (c) a way to attract customers without lowering price. (d) a market structure in which a few large firms dominate a market.

Regulation • The US goes through waves of regulation and deregulation • Like a pendulum swinging back and forth • We are now seeing a push for more government regulation

Why regulate at all? • Markets dominated by a few large firms tend to have higher prices and lower output than markets with many sellers. • To control prices and output like a monopoly, firms sometimes use predatory pricing. • Predatory pricing sets the market price below cost levels for the short term to drive out competitors. • Such as China dumping TVs on the US market

Why regulate? (cont’d) • Government policies keep firms from controlling the prices and supply of important goods. • Antitrust laws are laws that encourage competition in the marketplace. (Sherman!)

Why regulate? (cont’d) • 1. Regulating Business Practices • The government has the power to regulate business practices if these practices give too much power to a company that already has few competitors. • 2. Breaking Up Monopolies • The government has used anti-trust legislation to break up existing monopolies, such as the Standard Oil Trust and AT&T. • 3. Blocking Mergers • A merger is a combination of two or more companies into a single firm. The government can block mergers that would decrease competition. • 4. Preserving Incentives • In 1997, new guidelines were introduced for proposed mergers, giving companies an opportunity to show that their merging benefits consumers.

Why deregulate? • Deregulation is the removal of some government controls over a market. • Try to get back to free market forces • Deregulation is used to promote competition. • Many new competitors enter a market that has been deregulated. This is followed by an economically healthy weeding out of some firms from that market, which can be hard on workers in the short term.

Review 1. Antitrust laws allow the U.S. government to do all of the following EXCEPT (a) regulate business practices (b) stop firms from forming monopolies (c) prevent firms from selling new experimental products (d) break up existing monopolies 2. The purpose of both deregulation and antitrust laws is to (a) promote competition (b) promote government control (c) promote inefficient commerce (d) prevent monopolies